Let's Not Fool Ourselves
by sablize
Summary: A run-in with a lone vampire slayer has Rose second guessing her and Trevor's plan to kidnap Elena.


**Title:** Let's Not Fool Ourselves (1/1)

**Author:** sablize

**Spoilers:** 2x08

**Disclaimer:** Don't own a thing.

**A/N:** I started writing this aaaages ago, and when looking through my files I found it again and decided to finish. For Day 6 of Women Love Fest. Sorry I haven't updated in a while, life's been busy. School is a major pain right now. But new fic tomorrow for Day 7, and I have more in the works(: But for now, enjoy.

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><p>The balmy, late-summer air envelops Rose like a blanket as she walks, pressing against her in a strange contrast to her cool skin. She moves slowly, with no set destination, simply watching people as they pass by. The sun had finally set and she needed a walk.<p>

It's these times in her life—well, existence, really—where she doesn't mind running. This time 'round, they're staying in a nice hotel just off the boardwalk in Virginia Beach. The place is crowded with late-year vacationers (not too many to be suffocating, but just enough to blend in with) and the nights are still warm. It's about as close as they can get to Mystic Falls without feeling overwhelmed. Still, Rose feels the need to clear her head tonight.

Though the air is warm, the cool breeze from the ocean chills her, and she pulls her sweater tighter around her shoulders. In doing so, she accidentally bumps a passing teenager with her elbow.

"Sorry," she apologizes as he brushes past her. The kid doesn't turn around, though, so Rose stuffs her hands into the pockets of her shorts and keeps walking. _Even when I don't mean to be, I'm still invisible._

The moon is shining like a bright coin reflected in the water, and the sound of the waves crashing in her ears makes it so that, closing her eyes, she thinks she could be standing right in the ocean. She almost considers going onto the beach but another cool gust of wind changes her mind.

"Storm's coming," she remarks, as she turns around and heads for (temporary) home.

—

Rose tries to keep to the well-lit streets (who knows, Klaus could be lurking in any corner) but soon she finds herself on a narrow one-way road with the streetlight blown out, four blocks from their hotel.

A brightly lit intersection is visible just ahead, so she takes a deep, calming breath and sprints.

Except, just then, a hand latches onto her upper arm, and she's thrown against the brick wall of some building with such force that she cracks her head and sees stars. In her disoriented state, she's still able to hear the pounding of footsteps running towards her, and within seconds she's up, defensive, vision clearing at last.

The kid can't be more than sixteen or seventeen. Instantly, she recognizes him as the teenager she bumped into on the boardwalk (she's gotten good at remembering faces, in her five hundred years). His arms are spread before him and his hands are out, fingers splayed. Suddenly she realizes: _witch_. _I should've known_.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she says quietly.

The fierce expression on his face falters, just for a second. Then he growls, "You're a vampire. Of course you will." She opens her mouth to speak, but he continues, "Vampires killed by sister. I have to kill you."

"I didn't kill your sister," she says at last, arms raised in surrender. She steps lightly to the left, edging towards that bright, busy intersection, when—

"_No!_" the boy screams, and she's thrown against the wall again. She hears dry, scared sobs. Pounding feet. Then she feels the stake in her chest.

The sudden cold hits her like a wave, chilling her to the bone, and she feels like her blood is freezing solid in her veins, and her breath is stuck in her throat, trying to squeeze itself around the heart lodged there, and—

(_god, is this what dying feels like?_)

She gasps for breath and reaches out with one hand, which meets the boy's leg, and she clutches at it like an anchor. "_Please_," she pleads. But the boy yanks his leg away and runs, runs hard and fast as he can in the opposite direction, and leaves her dying on the pavement. Damn, her chest hurts. It's so dark (was it always?) and she… she—

Her other hand finds the stake and rips it out of her chest.

Lucky his aim was a little off.

—

Rose pulls her sweater tighter and, fist bunched around her shirt to hide the blood, finally makes it to the intersection and then, home.

"_Shit_," is Trevor's first word when she opens the door to their dilapidated hotel room. "What happened?"

She sighs wearily and rests her head back against the door, eyes sliding shut in exhaustion. "I don't know. A vampire hunter or something. Wanted revenge for his sister. Nearly killed me."

She senses, rather than sees, Trevor move closer to her. His worn fingers brush a strand of hair out of her eyes and she leans into him. His strong arms wrap around her and she lets out a great shudder, a great sigh of leftover fear that turns to contentment and a pressing urge to cry.

"Are we strong enough to do this?" she mumbles into his shoulder.

('this' being kidnapping a doppelganger and taking on Elijah and winning their freedom, and getting through all of it alive)

He drops a kiss on the top of her head and replies, always so sure, so confident, "Of course we are."

She squeezes her eyes shut and breathes him in. Just for a second. Then she steps back, away from his solidness and sureness and confidence, because if she stayed there all night (like she wants to) they'd never get anything done.

"I'm gonna go take a shower. About time I washed this blood off."

She has a feeling she's going to be washing a lot of other things away, too.


End file.
